2000 Rauzan Ségla 2000 1500ml

95 POINTS

Neal Martin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

This seems quite fleshy on the nose, just a touch of reduction at first although it blows away. Cranberry, strawberry, a touch of fig, then more secondary aromas coming through: saddle leather and Provencal herbs. The palate is medium-bodied, quite opulent and generous, silky smooth tannins but there is also real backbone to this wine. As always, this wine is masculine and broody at birth but now is coming into its own and lightening up. Red-berried fruits, a touch of pepper, orange zest, tightly coiled and pointed towards the finish. Great weight and grip on the finish. Superb. Drink 2013-2040. Tasted March 2010.

95 POINTS

James Suckling - Wine Spectator

Tight and muscular, with a solid core of fruit and racy tannins. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins, yet silky and refined. This is very, very toned and serious. A wine for long-term aging. Best after 2010. 8,330 cases made.

94 POINTS

Jeb Dunnuck

I loved the 2000 Rauzan-Ségla, another mature yet balanced wine that shows the hallmark complexity and elegance of the estate. Beautiful currants, strawberries, lead pencil, and spice notes give way to a medium to full-bodied wine that has a layered texture, resolved tannins, and good mid-palate depth. I love its complexity, its seamless texture, and its great finish. This is a beautiful 2000 that’s drinking at point today yet will easily keep for another two decades. Maturity 2019-2039.

91 POINTS

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

Perfumed, classy aromas of dark berries, spices, licorice and bitter chocolate; a real essence of Margaux. Rich but sappy, with cassis, blackberry, boysenberry and dark chocolate flavors nicely firmed by ripe acidity. Finishes long and firmly tannic, with excellent spine and grip. By far the highest of these three vintages in tannins.

90 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

This wine is evolving nicely and will probably merit an outstanding score by the time it is bottled. The tannin has sweetened since last year (a positive sign), although this Margaux has not yet put on the weight expected given how its peers have developed. An impressive opaque purple color is followed by an elegant, fragrant bouquet of black fruits, minerals, dried Provencal herbs, and vanilla. Medium-bodied, with high but sweet tannin, a nice texture, and a moderately long finish, this classically refined as well as authoritatively flavored effort will be at its finest between 2006-2020.

90 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

This wine has closed down since I tasted it in January. It reveals notes of green pepper in the otherwise enticing bouquet of black fruits, minerals, and vanillin, medium to full body, an austere, structured personality, and copious tannin. While I initially thought it would taste better, there is a lot going on in this 2000, so perhaps my score is unduly conservative. There is no question that this wine has considerable upside potential. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2020.

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

Ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of red berries, tar, cedar, iron and mint; seemed to shut down in the glass. Sweet, succulent and fat; rounder and more opulent than the 2001 and highly aromatic in the mouth. Quite lush and seamless. This will rely more on its huge but ripe mouthcoating tannins than on its acids for longevity. Very long and ripe on the back end.

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

Medium-deep ruby. Penetrating aromas of blackberry, raspberry, licorice, cedar and bitter chocolate. Rich, dense and chocolatey; full and fleshy. Conveys a slightly medicinal impression of austerity. Finishes with huge, chewy-but-ripe tannins and excellent persistence. This should develop slowly and be long-lived.